A new initiative to help stray cats live better lives was formalized this summer after the feral feline population had risen to over 40 cats and kittens in the small town of St. Jean Baptiste.
“We do know there are more strays, in the park along the river, and a farmer north of town says the same,” explained Meaghen Fillion, founder and co-chair of St. Jean Hearts for Strays, a volunteer-run Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program that formed after several local residents found themselves feeding strays independently of one another while watching the population grow.
“I’m a cat and animal lover,” said Fillion. “My husband and I have been caring for strays for years. We’ve found homes for over 30 cats. You feed one momma cat and she brings back her kittens. With many animal rescues at capacity across the province, we knew we could only do so much and we’d need to implement a TNR program.”
Controlling and maintaining the animal situation in St. Jean is the goal of the 12-person committee.
“Our hope in the long run is to have a stabilized population where cats are spayed or neutered and monitored for the rest of their lives,” explained Fillion. “We also hope to inspire other municipalities and communities to implement their own TNR programs.”
Fillion is quick to point out that St. Jean Hearts for Strays is not affiliated with a petition with over 250 signatures that circulated in July requesting better animal control resources in the RM of Montcalm.
“We actually asked to be removed from the petition and have had nothing but positive interactions with the RM,” she noted.
Jolene Bird, CAO with the RM of Montcalm, understands the situation.
“Our municipality no longer has a pound that accepts cats,” she said. “We have nowhere to take them and [the population] is hard to address when there is nowhere to go.”
Although the RM is still “finding their way” with this, Bird thinks the Heart for Strays program is a fantastic idea.
“They are organized and came with a full proposal that council was happy to accept.”
Bird encourages any local animal advocates to have open communication with the RM so they can work together to find a “sustainable way to approach animal control.”
After getting the green light for a proposal submission from the RM of Montcalm in March of this year, Fillion and the committee have presented to the Local Urban District of St. Jean Baptiste and the RM of Montcalm. On July 17 they learned that both LUD and RM will jointly fund phase one of the TNR program to $5,000 and are quickly putting their plan into action.
Phase one focuses on the spaying of all females and neutering of males that can be caught in a trapping the weekend before their planned clinic.
“We hope to get to a maintenance level this summer and have identified two cat colonies that we’ll focus on,” said Fillion. “A cat can have up to three litters a year. We have to understand how expensive it is to neuter and [an out-of-control population] impacts the ecosystem of rescues.”
The first Spay and Neuter Clinic will be held Aug. 18 at the St. Jean Centennial Hall. If space allows, there will be limited spots for community members to get their animals fixed for a reduced price of $155 for spaying and $125 for neutering.
St. Jean Hearts for Strays continues to accept funds and food for colony management and ongoing monitoring of the cats, including emergency vet bills, which are not included in the funding acquired from the RM and LUD.
Food items can be dropped off the St. Jean grocery store and e-transfers sent to the group’s email at stjeanheartsforstrays@gmail.com.
Anyone wanting to register their animal for the spay/neuter clinic waitlist can submit their request by email.
